More than 375,000 children across all grades attended school most days last year, new data reveals, as the government seeks to deliver the next stage of its internationally recognized attendance strategy. became.
The release today (Friday 10 May) of a new detailed daily data tool will enable schools to identify absenteeism trends across different year groups and student characteristics, allowing them to address concerns and improve attendance. This means that you can help improve your rates.
Compared to 2021/22, more children attended school almost every day. The average elementary school had about 14 more students, and the average middle school had about 39 more students. This trend was seen across countries and across grade levels, including key vulnerable cohorts such as children with special educational needs and those on free school meals.
The Department of Education is urging schools to use the tool to understand attendance trends and act quickly to support students.
The latest data tool, published today, comes a week after the OECD recognized the UK’s broad and “comprehensive” strategy to tackle school refusal. While the report recognizes that school attendance is a global issue post-pandemic, it supports the UK’s approach to attendance and legal guidance, while many other countries have limited data collection. He emphasized the world’s leading collection of data that provides information on this matter.
Attendance rates in England are significantly higher than in Wales and Scotland. Last year, pupils in England attended school for more than a week and a half more than children in Wales and nearly a week more than children in Scotland. Previous government analysis also showed that 440,000 fewer children were absent from school last year compared to the previous year.
The scheme builds on the Government’s success in raising school standards alongside the hard work of teachers and school leaders, with 90% of schools now rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted, up from just 68% in 2010. ” or “Excellent.” According to a study by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the school rose to 11th in the world mathematics rankings from just 27th in 2009.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said:
As recognized by the OECD, thanks to our outstanding teachers and headteachers, the UK leads the world in its approach to helping children return to the classroom.
Attendance is my top priority. Alongside schools, I am one of the only education secretaries in the world who currently have access to detailed data on daily attendance, and I am committed to providing governments, parliaments and schools with the support they need to target students who need the support most. provides insight.
Being in school is more valuable than ever, which is why we must stick to our plans to increase attendance and ensure all children have access to a world-class education.
Rob Tarn, CEO of the Northern Education Trust and the Government’s attending ambassador, said:
This new data approach is a major step forward in our efforts to return attendance to pre-pandemic levels, or even higher.
We used this data to identify absenteeism patterns in one cohort of Year 7 students at one academy. This enabled us to work closely with LA to target intensive interventions to reduce the number of persistently absent students in this cohort.
Using this more detailed breakdown of absences and benchmarking performance against local and national data, principals can make strategic decisions and focus on addressing absenteeism profiles in their schools.
These tools are in line with new legal guidance on attendance, Cooperation to Improve Attendance, which comes into force in August and provides all schools with access to a wide range of support services through local authorities. , calls for the development of strategies to reduce persistent and severe absenteeism. This is expected to include regular meetings between local authorities and schools to agree plans for seriously absent pupils, and schools to appoint attendance champions and publish attendance policies. There is.
The plan includes a national attendance hub initiative for one million students and a pilot attendance coaching program backed by £15 million. This government has also invested his £2.9 billion into the pupil premium, which can be used to support attendance this year.